Data Centres: The Costs, Casualties and Opportunities.

A panel discussion at The Conduit on the rapid growth of data centres in the UK, examining what the expansion of AI digital infrastructure means for communities, energy and water resources, and the environment. It is chaired by author and Guardian journalist Hettie O'Brien, with speakers including Global Action Plan, community leaders, CPRE and data centre developers, among them Dr Ambily Banerjee of Slough Against Data Centres and Neal Kalita. The conversation asks who stands to gain from data centre hyper-scaling, how growth could be managed more sustainably, and how policy and planning could be strengthened, with a look ahead to the Environmental Audit Committee's upcoming report.